


Since we're alone

by daydreamwithyou



Series: BAU does Blind Dates [1]
Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Garvez, Songfic, blind date gone wrong, sort of fix it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-07
Updated: 2020-05-07
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:00:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,798
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24060979
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/daydreamwithyou/pseuds/daydreamwithyou
Summary: When both of their dates turn out to be not that great, they are lucky to have each other to keep them company during the evening.
Relationships: Luke Alvez/Penelope Garcia
Series: BAU does Blind Dates [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1735849
Comments: 1
Kudos: 42





	Since we're alone

**Author's Note:**

> This is my take on what I wanted to happen on 13x12 (Bad Moon on the Rise) also this is inspired by Since We're Alone by Niall Horan.   
> This was originally posted on tumblr as a part of my "BAU does blind dates" series for my CM Bingo prompt challenge.

_ “Since we’re alone, show me all that you are and if you get lost in the light, it’s ok, I can see in the dark” _

“Everything happens for a reason”

Penelope stood outside the restaurant repeating those words to herself and feeling different things at once: disappointment, annoyment, sadness and hunger. She never even got to have dinner. She took a deep breath and started walking towards Esther, thanking God she had decided to meet her date here and not having him to pick her up. 

Despite what everyone might think, she had other friendships at work, not only the BAU, and one of those friends, Betty, had offered to set her up in a blind date. Penelope was unsure if she wanted to be set up but her friend insisted she could find someone good for her but oh, what a mistake that had been. The guy was not only super late but incredibly rude to her. She held back the tears, but with her blurry vision she bumped into someone.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I wasn’t paying atten- “ She couldn’t finish her sentence when she saw who was standing in front of her.

“Penelope? Hi, uh, what are you doing here?” Luke asked surprised but glad to see her.

“Uh, I was supposed to have dinner, what are you doing here?” For a moment she forgot the date gone wrong and was having mixed feelings about Luke Alvez being there wearing a black sweater and looking extremely handsome.

“I had a blind date” He replied with a blank expression on his face.

“Funny coincidence so did I” She looked less excited than him and he wasn’t that much excited.

“Was it bad?” He asked with a sympathetic look.

“Bad is an understatement, he was almost an hour late for starters” Her voice was full with frustration, she reminded herself to keep calm or she would end up crying in front of Luke and that wasn’t what she needed right now “Then when he arrived, he made it clear I wasn’t what he expected, he criticized my outfit, I won’t go in to many details but he made me feel like crap, now here I am, having wasted my Friday night with a guy who was not worth not even a minute of my time” Penelope closed her eyes and sighed, feeling less frustrated now that she had said everything out loud, maybe Luke wasn’t the ideal person to vent, but she was glad he was there.

“What the fuck is wrong with him? You should’ve left before he even arrived, he kept you waiting” He felt angry at the man who had done that to Penelope, she was so sweet to everyone she, out of all the people, didn’t deserve that kind of treatment.

“I know, I sat there longer being alone than with him and I am so mad at myself for not leaving before he got here it’s just…” She suddenly stopped, Penelope didn’t want to vent her insecurities in front of him.

“Just what?” He placed a hand in her shoulder, while searching for her eyes. “You need someone to talk and I happen to be here, please, tell me”

“It’s just I don’t date much, I’m not like, well other people, who have dates every weekend, I don’t get asked out a lot and I foolishly set my expectations too high and this clown, he was awful, he made fun of the way I dressed and…” She couldn’t keep the tears inside anymore and they silently fell on her cheeks, the whole scene had Luke feeling like finding the asshole and telling him off, but also he wanted to reassure Penelope that she was beautiful and deserved the world.

Suddenly Luke’s mind went somewhere he had been trying to avoid. Ever since he met Penelope, he knew she was special. As much as she tried to give him a hard time about being the new guy, she was really sweet. She cared so much for her friends, tried to see the silver lining in every situation and did anything she could to help others. Not to mention she was incredibly beautiful, more than once he had to force himself to stop staring at her, her eyes, her smile, her curves, her lips. Her lips were always a huge distraction for him whenever she was close, the times she presented a case, he focused on the casefiles rather than her.

But he was almost certain Penelope couldn’t see him in that way. She only saw him as a friend and he wanted to treasure that, it was the most he would have. 

“Penelope, don’t pay attention to whatever he said about you, none of what he could have said is true, I’m sure” He wanted to lift her chin so she could see in his eyes he meant it.

“How could you know? You weren’t there” She tried to smirk, while dried her cheeks.

“It doesn’t matter, I just know, now, you said you left, did you have dinner?” Penelope looked at him with soft eyes and Luke just wanted to take her in his arms and wash away the sadness.

“No, but it’s ok, I have food in my apartment” Penelope held her bag and started to feel self conscious about being too sensitive in front of Luke.

“I’m not about to leave you like that, what would you like to have for dinner? We’re gonna get it” He stood in front of her with both of his hands in her shoulders.

“I honestly don’t know” She said in a small voice.

“Come on, there’s something you must want to eat right now” Luke was trying to cheer her up.

“I don’t know, you choose” Knowing Penelope was willing to spend some time with him made his smile grow bigger.

“French fries? I love french fries” Luke had already eaten but he was always willing to make space for french fries.

“Sounds good, yeah, comfort food to makeup for the awful date, I’m in” The mood was lighter between them now.

Penelope agreed to follow Luke so he could take her to the “best diner in town” according to him. When she got there, she was unsure if the feeling in her stomach was because she was hungry or she was about to spend one on one time with Luke Alvez and his brown eyes and killer smile.

“Here we are” He opened the door for her and guided her to his favorite booth, close the window and far from the people, not that there were many people but he wanted to have a nice conversation and didn’t want the fuzz to get in the way of it.

“There’s a burger I think you should try” Penelope cut him off.

“I’m vegetarian, Luke”

“I know, this is a vegan burger, I’ve tried it before, it’s really good” His expression made him look like an excited kid, she was unsure why he seemed to be that happy but she brushed it off.

“Ok, I’ll try it”

The waiter took their orders and he went off to tell her how he knew this place and why he liked it so much.

“You sound like a food blogger, Alvez, are you sure you’re not one?” She asked while taking a french frie into her mouth.

“No, I’m not, but I really love it here, besides it’s open 24 hours so sometimes after a case, this place saves me from starving to death” He took a sip of his soda.

“So dramatic, Luke, now tell me how was your date?” She was genuinely curious to listen about her friend’s night.

“Phil set us up, she’s really nice and beautiful but there wasn’t a spark, you know?” He stared at Penelope thinking how this felt more right than the date he just had.

“Maybe you should give it another try, have a second date” There it was again, her kind heart, Luke thought.

“I don’t think I’ll do it, I mean I wouldn’t mind hanging out with her and Phil but just that, nothing else” He spoke as if he was trying not to get into trouble.

“Ok, but don’t miss out on someone just because you’re afraid or something”

“What are you trying to say, Penelope?” 

“It’s just, sometimes people prefer to run away before trying to see if there’s a future there, you know? You said she is really nice and beautiful, that sounds like a catch” He almost fell as if she was scolding him, which put a playful smirk on his face.

“Oh, come on, now I have to marry her just because of what I said?” He joked.

“No, listen what I’m saying, I say it out of experience, don’t give up on something that could be good just because you’re feel unsure at first”

“I’m not gonna argue with you, I’ll try to call her and see if she wants to go out some other day, alright?” He lied just so she would stop insisting.

“Alright, if you end up marrying her and having children, I want to be godmother” She winked.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever, now let me show you how french fries should be eaten” Her eyebrows shot up in amusement at the sudden change of subject.

“What are you gonna do? You have a reputation that precedes you, you know?

Luke gasped feigning hurt. While he put barbecue sauce and caesar salad dressing on the side of the plate of fries they were sharing.

“That doesn’t look good” She admitted while scrunching her nose.

“Maybe, but it tastes really good, come on, try one” He put up the plate with one hand and with the other he took some fries dipped them in the mix and the ate them.

“Ok, just because you’ve been a great company tonight” She tried them and was pleasantly surprised it tasted good.

“See? I was right” He had a cocky smirk and Penelope rolled her eyes.

They ate the rest of their food in a comfortable silence, that was until Luke noticed Penelope was too deep in thought and the look on her eyes gave away she was still thinking about the earlier encounter she had.

“Watcha thinking about, chica?” He carefully watched her getting out of her thoughts.

“Should I be less… Uh, colorful? Wear less patterns?” She said in a serious voice.

“Not if you don’t want to” He replied with the same tone.

“I know I say I’m eternally young but does the way I dress or talk makes me look or sound, I don’t know, ridiculous?” She looked at him pleading honesty.

“No, no” He replied within a second she had finished speaking “Penelope, you are… I don’t even know how to describe it, you’re you, and that’s beautiful, you are beautiful and whoever doesn’t see that or tries to change the way you see yourself is an absolute moron, I cannot begin to explain how wrong they are” He licked his lips, knowing he was about to come out and say much more than he intended to.

“I am not lying when I say you are everything that is good in this world, and in my world, you are the light at the end of the tunnel, the color that brings my days to life, and I know I sound incredibly cheesy but it’s true, the whole reason why Phil set me up tonight was because I told him I had feelings for you and I needed to get over them because I know you won’t feel the same way, and seeing you beat yourself up over what some dickhead said is not ok with me, you are your own person, with your clothes and the way you talk and you’re million different glasses and your optimism, your way of loving people, your intelligence, I could go on and on if you wanted me to just so I can prove to you, how incredible you are, Penelope Garcia.”

Penelope was speechless and very touched by what Luke had said, never in a million years she would’ve thought he thought that much of her. He felt that way towards her.

Luke was also surprised that he had said all of that out loud, after trying to lock it in the back of his head for the past few months. He held her hand across the table and squeezed it.

“I-I-I don’t know what to- what…” Penelope was unable to speak coherent sentences. She wasn’t sure if she was dreaming, so she just stared at him wide eyed and open mouthed. Luke had a feeling that maybe he wasn’t going to be turned down so he continued pouring his heart out now that he had finally dared to do so.

“Ok, since you’re not going to talk just yet, would it be crazy of me to ask you for a chance? A chance to see if something can go from here? Please” He pleaded with his eyes, not letting go of her hand.

She swore he could feel her heart beating faster and faster, for the second time in her life, she felt it was going to come out of her chest.

“Luke, it’s me you’re talking about” He looked at her trying to make sense of her words “I can be me, with all my quirks and my-” He cut her off.

“Didn’t you listen to me? That’s what I want, you, all of you, if you feel the slightest willing to try, let’s do it, I’ll do everything I can to not break your heart” She was still at loss of words and Luke’s confidence was wearing off but he had one more thing to say “A friend told me I shouldn’t give up on something that could be good just because I’m afraid” 

“I told you I said it out of experience and that’s because I’m good at running, running away from relationships and commitment”

“It’s ok, I like the chase” And with that he leaned over the table and kissed her. If any of them needed proof that there was electricity between them, that was it. The feeling that went down their spines when their lips touched could not be compared to anything they’ve ever felt before.

When they pulled apart, it was Penelope’s turn to squeeze his hand.

“Alright, let’s try it then” Her smile and her eyes made him almost feel dizzy.

A month later, Penelope and Luke were feeling more than happy with the way things were, it had been a month of getting to know each other even more over date nights whenever they weren’t on a case. The team was ecstatic learning.they were together, everyone had a feeling they were good for each other.

“Penelope!” Betty, her work friend, called out to her and Penelope regretted coming down at that time.

“Hey Betty” She tried to be nice, it wasn’t her fault that her friend was an asshole.

“How are you, little liar?” Betty said with furrowed eyebrows.

“What do you mean?” She was surprised at the accusation.

“You stood up my friend, that wasn’t very nice, Pen” Her friend’s face softened.

“I didn’t stood him up, he was an idiot, I’m sorry but he was” She felt bad saying that about Betty’s friend but it was true.

“How could you know that if you never showed up?” Betty’s confused look mirrored Penelope’s. 

“I did show up and your friend Ben was not only late but rude to me”

“He told me you didn’t show up, that he waited almost an hour for you” Betty knew something wasn’t right, neither of them lied “Are you sure it was Ben? The Ben I sent you the picture of?” Penelope hadn’t seen any picture.

“What? I didn’t see a picture, you told me his name was Ben” Penelope unlocked her phone and there it was, below the text that read Remember his name is Ben, was a picture of a man that wasn’t the one she had the misfortune to meet.

“Oh, Penelope, who the hell did you have dinner then?” Betty was now laughing, unaware that the first date she had that night went terribly wrong.

In that moment Luke walked by and saw Penelope, she also looked at him and smiled.

“It doesn’t matter, say sorry to Ben for me, ok? I have to go” She never took her eyes off Luke while he looked curious as to what she was saying.

She approached him and her smile grew bigger.

“What is making you smile so big this fine morning, Penelope?” He asked with his own smile adorning his face.

“Everything happens for a reason, Luke, everything happens for a reason”


End file.
